The condition of “heart muscle disease” is often referred to as cardiomyopathy. Often leading to heart failure or sudden death, it occurs in both women and men. Cardiomyopathy is also a term describing a series of disorders causing primary heart muscle dysfunction. There is no known cure for this condition, of which the most common form causes 10,000 deaths each year in the United States.

Now adult stem cells may be the treatment answer for this condition. A Bangkok, Thailand, based company claims to have developed a treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy. Patients are typically characterized by low energy, pain, restricted activity, brevity, and cost. But patients can travel to Bangkok to for stem cell treatment and possibly leave the aforementioned symptoms behind.

A Michigan man named Jason is perhaps the clinics biggest success.

By the time Jason was 15, he had a pacemaker. By 21 he was diagnosed as having cardiomyopathy and by 25 he had a defibrillator in place and an ejection fraction of just 8-10 percent. Jason was born with an atrial septal defect. Now 34, Jason calls himself lucky. Adult stem cell therapy freed him from the domination and restrictions of heart failure. He says he feels so much better that if he started training, he thinks he could do a triathlon.

As he was removed from a heart transplant list, his mother searched for help. As he went back and forth to specialists having his medications reviewed, since that is all he was left with. He constantly felt depressed and tired since some of the medications had unpleasant side-effects. Then his mother found the stem cell clinic. After being examined by Dr. Patel from the University of Pittsburgh, he was on his way to Bangkok. Dr. Patel felt that adult stem cells could help Jason.

A small amount of blood was withdrawn from Jason once he arrived in Bangkok. Stem cells were harvested from the blood and injected directly into his heart muscle at the Bangkok Heart Hospital. Jason knew his life was changing only a short month later.

“My heart was beating better, more rhythmically, and I had more energy,” he said. “After six months I was up and flying, feeling 100 percent different. I could mow the lawns, take walks, ride a bike with my kids, lift weights — do whatever I liked,” he said. “I’m always on the go with our fifth child on the way and always busy as a full-time parent.”

Jason is very happy to spend time advising other cardiomyopathy sufferers of the power of positive thinking and he has always enjoyed a huge level of support from his family and friends.

“Always try to be positive,” he counsels. “There is hope. Take care of your diet and help get the word out that adult stem cell therapy is worth getting done. It’s nothing like what you would have thought.”

Jason talks to other patients about his treatment, which is not available in the United States, and explains what it is like to fly to Thailand and receive stem cell injections.

Continuing research is revealing encouraging clinical outcomes for adult stem cell use for the treatment of many different conditions. Soon, more patients will be aware of the option to travel abroad to Thailand as well as other countries for treatment. Those patients will know that skilled doctors in world-class hospitals can perform this procedure which is straightforward and effective; and that they cannot be harmed by a therapy that uses their own adult stem cells.

Using a person’s own bone marrow, doctors were able to grow new blood vessels. However, in order for patients with diseased arteries to benefit from the test-tube grown vessels, a few more years of research will be required said researchers. Still, the accomplishment is yet another large step for adult stem cells and demonstrative of their therapeutic potential.

“Our studies show that bone marrow is an excellent source of stem cells that can be coaxed into creating blood vessels,” Stelios Andreadis, associate professor in the University at Buffalo department of chemical and biological engineering, told United Press International.

Andreadis said that endothelial and smooth muscle cells make up the test tube created blood vessels.

“These stem cells can be used in regenerative medicine for cardiovascular applications,” he said.

Especially for those found in and around the heart, the main reason for creating new blood vessels is for use in arteries said Andreadis. However, the blood vessels created in his laboratory are capable of being used, at the very least as, veins in humans right now.

The new blood vessels should be engineered to withstand internal pressures as high as 1,200 millimeters of mercury in order to have the strength to be used to replace diseased coronary arteries. This is 10 times above the normal limit. Having a top strength of about 200 mmHg, bone marrow stem cell derived blood vessels are not yet strong enough.

“We need to improve the matrix around which the cells grow in order to have strong enough blood vessels for replacing human arteries,” he said. The researchers have already used tissue engineered vessels in animals such as sheep with good results, he said.

Cardiovascular Research recently published Andreadis’ preliminary work. Providing a desirable alternative to the venous grafts now routinely done in patients undergoing coronary bypass operations, the paper demonstrated the potential for eventually growing tissue-engineered vessels out of stem cells harvested from the patients who need them.

A high 10-year failure rate, discomfort and pain at the donor site, and the limited availability of vessels are some of the disadvantages of venous grafts.

Using a tissue-specific promoter for alpha-actin (a protein found in muscles that is responsible for their ability to relax and contract) in conjunction with a fluorescent marker protein, Andreadis reported on a novel method for isolating functional smooth muscle cells from bone marrow.

One of the most important properties of blood vessels is their ability to proliferate and the ability to contract in response to vasoconstrictors. In their expression of several smooth muscle cell proteins, the tissue-engineered vessels performed similarly to native blood vessels.

Critical to the functioning of artificial blood vessels, both elastin and collagen are produced by the vessels. These components also give tissue their elasticity and strength.

The John R. Oishei Foundation of Buffalo and the Integrative Research and Creative Activities Fund in the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York funded Andreadis’ research.

“The work in Buffalo shows the promise that stem cells have in their ability to produce different structures,” said S. Chiu Wong, associate professor of medicine at the Weill Medical College at Cornell University. “This pre-clinical work shows again that stem cells can be a rich source for development. It certainly remains a fruitful area of research.”

Working on producing more coronary blood vessels is another aspect of stem cell research which Wong and his colleagues are working on. In an attempt to generate blood vessel growth, stem cells are injected directly into heart muscle. Wong and his team are part of a multicenter clinical trial involved to this particular study which has been funded by Baxter.

A leading cardiologist is saying that the treatment of heart disease has been revolutionized by the concept of “growing” heart muscle and vascular tissue and manipulating the myocardial cellular environment by using stem cell therapy.

City-based Harvey Super Specialties Hospital Chairman M P Naresh Kumar told reporters that adult stem cells harvested from peripheral blood or bone marrow are capable of replicating, differentiating and promoting heart muscle (myocardial) repair.

He said that recently, adult stem cells have proven themselves to have great therapeutic benefit and clinical relevance for the treatment of heart disease, even though there is still experimental work that must be completed.

Severe heart disease cases that have been treated successfully with adult blood stem cell infusions were cited as examples of recent stem cell success by Kumar. Once such example involved a 53-year-old woman. After all other treatments proved to yield no benefit, the woman, who also suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure was treated using adult stem cells.

A heart transplant was out of the question for her and beyond her means. Her ejection fraction had dropped to 35 percent and she had severe heart failure. Diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, she underwent stem cell therapy as last resort.

Upon discharge following cell therapy, her ejection fraction had already increased to 49 percent. She was infused using a catheter technique via a coronary route.

The accessibility, safety, feasibility, and cost effectiveness, of stem cell therapy was pointed out by Kumar.

He remarked that the treatment cost a relatively small sum of Rs 25,000 (about $610 dollars), where if the treatment had been performed in the United States it would have cost about Rs 40 lakh.

Lobbying for the passage of a bill authorizing federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, Rekha and others who have been affected by Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), were in Washington D.C. earlier this month. On May 18th, Rekha wrote a column titled, “ALS Activists Fight for Research, Cling To Hope”. The material was infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time; Rekha believes that embryonic stem cells “may hold the key to finding a cure.” However, she was mistaken.

For the treatment of injuries and diseases, only adult stem cell have been proven effective.

Even the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) called for an end to embryonic stem-cell research, “which prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem-cell treatments and cures.” On May 14th, this entire medical organization backed up the fact that embryonic stem cells are just not necessary.

Exclusive use of adult stem cells has resulted in the successful treatment of dozens of conditions and diseases over the last decade. The ACP cites these strong pro-adult stem cell results further noting, “catastrophic results…producing the wrong tissue, forming tumors and triggering immune rejection,” when describing the abysmal failure that embryonic stem cell trials have produced. Asserting that it, “steals resources away from the established utility and potential of adult stem-cell research”; the medical group denounced embryonic stem cell research as a tremendous waste of money and resources.

Afflicted patients and their families continue their journey on a path that leads to nowhere because of people like U.S. Senator Tom Harkin who is a sponsor of the embryonic stem cell bill.

Heartless and cruel are only a few of the words being used to describe opponents of embryonic stem-cell research. But offering false promises to millions of desperate people who are suffering from diseases and conditions that could be treated with adult stem cells right now may be even more heartless.

Some U.S. researchers warn that much remains unknown, still, local patients are going overseas to put their hopes and spend their money on stem cell treatment.

Currently, adult stem cells are being used in numerous clinical trials worldwide to establish their effectiveness in treating patients with cardiovascular diseases. 67 trials are acknowledged by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for investigating how to regenerate damaged heart tissue. But a biotechnology firm is saying that they have already accomplished just that.

The company TheraVitae operates in Thailand and Israel, with pre and post treatment care performed by Dr. Zannos Grekos, a Bonita Springs cardiologist.

Stem cell researchers said that before putting their confidence in procedures like the ones Southwest Floridians are seeking, they want to discern much more about stem cells. The cardiovascular experts contacted for this report did not want to discuss TheraVitae directly.

“There are little niches here and there doing various types of treatments without much science,” said Dr. Carl Pepine at the University of Florida. UF is part of the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research, a five-member consortium conducting research with the backing of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Treating those diagnosed with heart failure and those who have had heart attacks using stem cells is the focus of Pepine’s research.

“Nobody knows what the proper dose is,” Pepine said. “How many cells should you give?”

How soon a patient should receive cells following a heart attack will also be investigated by Pepine’s study.

Sonia Skarlatos says that researchers are trying to determine which variety of stem cell is really responsible for tissue regeneration. Sonia is the acting director for the division of cardiovascular diseases at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

“We are still not sure what is the right cell, what is the right delivery and what is the right dose,” Skarlatos said.

Skarlatos says that it is tough to draw conclusions from the small-scale studies that have been conducted all over the world. Various doses of cells and different types have been used on patients who all have varying degrees of heart functionality.

“It makes it very hard to compare all the trials,” Skarlatos said.

But the one thing that Skarlatos does agree with is that stem cell treatment is safe. And that is good news for patients wanting to at least give the cells a shot at healing their ailments.

Part of the explanation that patients see progress could be due to the development of new vessels that stem cells encourage says Dr. Johnny Huard, the director of stem cell research at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Huard said that too much vascular growth could also be a problem.

Huard is also curious to find out if other parts of the body could also be affected by stem cells injected into the heart.

“One thing is very important: You may inject cells in the heart, but are they migrating?” he said.

50-year-old Neim flew to Bangkok last November for stem cell treatment to heal his deteriorating heart.

He has gotten used to people and their questions about the treatment.

“(My cardiologist) just kept hoping for improvement. Finally, he broke the news. He gave me my time

Rather than have federal and state governments throw money away by funding studies that focus on embryonic stem cells, a national group of pediatric doctors want the money redirected towards adult stem cells research. The significant success adult stem cell research has shown over embryonic research provides data to back their cause.

Exclusive support of adult stem cell research is what the American College of Pediatricians is recommending to public officials.

“Not only does embryonic research require taking the life of human embryos, it also prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem cell treatments and cures,” said Michelle Cretella, MD, a fellow of the American College of Pediatricians.

Dr. Cretella cites the use of adult stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, placenta, amniotic fluid, various organs, adult blood, and fat, as proof. These non-embryonic sources have thus far yielded impressive results.

Cretella explained that certain forms of cancer therapy make routine use of adult stem cells today.

But successful treatments have not been limited to cancer. Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, heart failure, and dozens of other health problems have been treated with exceptional results in human trials over the last decade.

“This has not been the case with any embryonic stem cell trial,” the pediatricians’ group’s spokeswoman said. “Instead, there have been catastrophic results with these cells producing the wrong tissue, forming tumors and triggering immune rejection.”

“Every dollar spent on the failed and unnecessary process of embryonic stem cell research steals resources away from the established utility and potential of adult stem cell research,” Cretella concluded. “This is fiscally irresponsible and medically unconscionable.”

Government entities are not hte only ones who have put an emphasis on embryonic stem cell research spending.

Patients were shown to develop insulin independence when Brazilian scientists treated those suffering from Type 1 diabetes with adult stem cells this past April.

But the study received no funding at all from a leading U.S. diabetes group. This same group helped to almost force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research by funding lobbying efforts to push Congress to approve the bill.

Scientists found that 14 of the 15 patients involved with the diabetes study became insulin free. The findings were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Working with the scientists was Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago doctor, Richard Burt.

“It’s the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever … no medications at all, with normal blood sugars,” he says of the groundbreaking study.

For the millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes, the results of the study would be miraculous.

But the Brazilian Ministry of Health and a private corporation had to provide funds to the researchers as the JAMA article reads. American’s should feel dismayed that countless sums of money lobbying Congress to fund embryonic stem cells research have been spent by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Diabetes Association, and not directed towards the diabetes study conducted in Brazil. The prominent diabetes entities chose to back research that has yet to help even one single patient.

Both organization were asked why they did not help fund the Brazilian diabetes study, but neither organization responded to any e-mails that were sent.

They “were not interested in the approach,” said Burt to the AP when confirming their non-participation.

Another seven or eight months, and Mel would be dead. He was running out of time since he found no sympathy from congestive heart failure.

But then adult stem cells came into the picture, quite literally, as a potential life saving treatment. Mel’s son watched a program on The Discovery Channel about adult stem cells. They were injected to improve heart function and grow new muscle after being harvested from a person’s own blood.

The Bangkok Heart Hospital became the 72-year-old Mel’s destination of choice, since adult stem cell therapy is only in its infancy in the United States in terms of treatment and research.

Thailand became the country where Mel would receive his treatment.

“I feel 100 percent better,” Mel, a retired businessman in Naples, said. “I can walk around and do a lot of things without getting out of breath. Of course, there are a lot of skeptics in the medical field.”

Dr. Zannos, has become an advocate of the procedure; and for those who are skeptical that the procedure really had any effect, the Florida cardiologist is sponsoring a free seminar on adult stem cell therapy for heart failure.

A new source of stem cells has been discovered reported scientists Sunday afternoon. A readily available supply of these new cells, which are found in amniotic fluid, could solve the ethical problems that surround embryonic derived cells.

The amniotic stem cells are pluripotent, with the capacity to develop into many different types of cells including, nerve, liver, fat, blood vessel, muscle, and bone cells.

“These cells are easier to get, and from acceptable medical procedures [for example, amniocentesis] that are done on a routine basis,” said study senior author Dr. Anthony, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

“This is another source of multi-potential cells,” added Paul, director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, in Tampa. “Because the cells can be accessed either post-birth or through amniocentesis, it’s possible that people could store those cells. If the cell lines that are created were available, then people could do some research on a non-embryonic source, which eliminates all the ethical and political issues.”

The January 7th issue of Nature Biotechnology has reported on the discovery of the cells, which are known as amniotic fluid-derived stem (AFS) cells.

The hope is that treatments or even cures for conditions such as spinal injury, stroke, liver failure, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer

Now in his 50’s, Bobby didn’t want to lose his life to congestive heart failure. And his wife Gay, wanted her husband back.

Today, Bobby is a pioneer in a research study that — if the results continue to look promising — might transform heart treatment forever.

In an experimental procedure called myoblast cell transplantation, Bobby received injections in his heart of 100 million stem cells grown from his own leg muscle.

Since he received his own body’s cells, there is no rejection problems.

Many months and perhaps years stand in the way of having a stem cell procedure like this to enter mainstream medicine (after gaining approval by the FDA), but this much is a fact – Bobby’s scarred and dying heart muscle is regenerating.

Bobby, who has had four heart attacks, was the first one to receive 100 million cells out of the 24 people enrolled in the nationwide study. Testing safety through escalating doses, others have received 30 million, 300 million, and 600 million in phase one. Only patients with congestive heart failure caused by heart attacks were eligible for the experiment, keeping the study focus narrow.

Dr. Nabil, who performed part of this research at The Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix said that Bobby’s results were extraordinary.

“I didn’t expect to see such improvement with 100 million cells. … Patients will respond differently, but the results are extremely encouraging, even with small doses.”

The procedure has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research and instead uses cells cultured from the patient’s leg muscle.

“Over the last five years, we have developed a method to transplant the cells by catheter, like an angiogram. The patient can be awake and discharged the next day to go home,” Nabil said.

The researchers have proven they can isolate stem cells from the skeletal muscle and, “that the cells survive and make new muscle in a matter of three months,” he said.

The first two research centers in the United States to receive FDA approval to use 3-D guidance technology were The Arizona Heart Hospital and the Arizona Heart Institute. Allowing doctors to pinpoint the damaged areas of the heart with three-dimensional color mapping, the doctors can then inject myobalsts into the specific areas.

Cardiologists from around the world will visit Washington in February where Nabil will present a conference on the early study results.

Bobby traveled to Phoenix to be tested for the study after Gay’s research led her to Dr. Nabil in August of 2005. He was rejected for the study during an initial test due to a bad sunburn, but he was then accepted during a subsequent test and had a heart catheterization to map his heart.

A biopsy of his thigh muscle was taken in March of 2006. The cell culture was grown during the next four to six weeks in Boston from the marble sized sample of muscle.

His cells grew quickly and by April 6, he was back in Arizona for the injection of 100 million cells on April 7.

He doubled the amount he could walk in six minutes during tests last month. He had photos of his heart taken along with a stress test and an echocardiogram (pictured right). “After lunch I met with Dr. Nabil and Bee (a research coordinator) and they gave me my stats. They were as excited as they could be.

“He’s keeping an eye on me because they can’t figure out how I have so much stamina. I’m healthier than other patients he’s been working with,” Bobby said.

Bobby was referred to Vanderbilt University in 2002 where he met with Dr. Stacie, who was head of the cardiology and heart transplant unit at Vanderbilt. She said that Bobby was, “judged too weak for a heart transplant and his heart’s ejection fraction was down to 18 percent.” The ejection fraction is the rate at which the heart pumps.

55 percent is the average rate that a heart contracts.

His ejection fraction is up to 25 percent since his stem cell injections – a major improvement. “He’s in the early phases of something really big, and I view him as a pioneer,” Stacie said. “What Bobby is doing will help every patient who comes after him.”